Northwest Civic Association

Board tables zoning issue, hears bikeway, council reports

The only item on the Northwest Civic Association's board of directors agenda for last week's monthly meeting was abruptly tabled at the request of the applicant.

What was initially billed on the association's website as a simple matter of clearing up a zoning discrepancy has gotten more complicated, Rosemarie Lisko said during her report to the board.

In addition to correcting existing zoning for the Premier at Sawmill Athletic Club, officials with the fitness facility at 3111 Hayden Road are now exploring possible plans for expansion, Lisko said.

The agenda item was pulled at the applicant's request while city zoning personnel are consulted, the committee chairwoman indicated.

"We'll have to wait and see," Lisko said.

In a relatively brief meeting, one that ended in a closed-doors meeting to interview students from Centennial High School to elect new student representatives to the board, there was discussion about a bike path project along West Dublin-Granville Road.

The 10-foot shared-use path, as such things are called, would run between Linworth and Sawmill roads, although on which side of state Route 161 it will be located has yet to be determined.

Lisko is scheduled to attend a meeting about the project and report at next month's meeting of association board.

"This project was identified as one of the Bicentennial Bikeways Plan's top 12 priorities," according to the NWCA website.

Chairman John Ehlers led a discussion of the Columbus City Council community meeting held Sept. 18 at Centennial High School.

"It worked out very well," Lisko commented. "I was surprised at the attendance. I think it was better than most."

The meeting marked the first of the ongoing series of council one-on-one sessions at community venues to take place on the Northwest Side.

Lisko expressed her hope that it becomes an annual event.

"I think City Council gets a lot out of it, as well," Ehlers said.

During his report to the board, neighborhood liaison Isom Nivins Jr. said he still has not heard who will be replacing Carl Johnson as the Columbus Division of Police liaison officer for the Northwest Side.

He said he was still working with code enforcement personnel as well as employees of the street maintenance division to address an area of tall grass on Knightsbridge Boulevard.

"We're hopefully getting closer to having that cut," the neighborhood liaison said. "It is really an eyesore."

Code Enforcement Committee chairman Dave Shaw said the ongoing issue of a large tree limb stretching across three Kenny Road properties had finally been addressed after a private tree trimmer was called in.

However, he added, the owner of the property in which the tree was originally located is now balking at the $400 price tag.

Finally, Shaw said, the owner of a home who had erected signs expressing unhappiness, in sometimes graphic terms, with American Electric Power had agreed to take them down after more than a year.